The Justice Department has reached an agreement to pay President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn about $1.2 million, after he sued the Department of Justice for what he claimed was an unlawful prosecution.The brief two-page settlement filed Wednesday does not include how much the settlement is worth, or any details of the agreement, but AP and ABC sources report the sum is roughly $1.2 million. In 2023, Flynn sued the DOJ for $50 million despite being charged in 2017 with providing false information to the FBI during its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The former army general claimed he was “unlawfully and politically” targeted during the investigation because of his association with Trump. Flynn’s own actions say otherwise. In 2017, he admitted to lying to the FBI, and twice pleaded guilty to the charges against him. He withdrew the plea in 2020, however, citing the government’s “vindictiveness” and “bad faith.” Along with lying to the FBI, Flynn is known for pleading the Fifth in court when asked if the violence on January 6, 2021, was justified, and if he believes in a peaceful transfer of power. Less than a year after Flynn withdrew his guilty plea, Trump quietly granted him clemency. It was one of many astonishingly corrupt pardons that have come to define the president’s time in office, and one that showed that if you commit a felony on his behalf, you’ll likely be protected from all consequences.As if protection from prosecution wasn’t enough, Flynn will now be compensated with taxpayer dollars for his unwavering loyalty to Trump.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement lied about having the authority to arrest hundreds of lawful asylum-seekers and individuals seeking citizenship at immigration courts.In a court filing late Tuesday evening, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Oestericher of the Southern District of New York revealed that a memo the government had relied on to support the arrest of hundreds of immigrants appearing at immigration courts “does not and has never authorized” civil immigration enforcement actions at those courts.The revelation was part of a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union and various other civil rights groups, challenging the government’s practice of dismissing asylum and citizenship cases and snatching law-abiding immigrants en masse at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, as well as other immigration courts across the country.The prosecutor wrote that the government would withdraw several briefs that had relied on the memo, as well as certain statements made in oral arguments in federal court in September. Oestreicher wrote that a previous order from U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel would likely need to be “reconsidered and re-briefed.” In September, Castel ruled that ICE could make arrests in courthouses and also made it harder for judges to dismiss cases.Oestericher claimed that the mistake came from ICE, not the Department of Justice, which has made more than a few immigration law gaffes in the past several months.“The undersigned were specifically informed by ICE that the 2025 ICE Guidance applied to immigration courthouse arrests. In addition, we discussed with and obtained the approval of assigned ICE counsel before filing every brief in this case and making any oral representations to the Court and Plaintiffs,” Oestericher wrote.Former New York City comptroller and current congressional candidate Brad Lander, who was brutally detained by ICE in June during his campaign for New York City mayor, while attempting to escort an immigrant out of a courthouse in lower Manhattan, slammed ICE for misleading the courts.“According to documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, ICE has been lying for a year—not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors—about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts,” Lander wrote on X Wednesday.“This is genuinely a bombshell. All courthouse arrests should cease immediately. There should be a Congressional investigation & civil rights actions for every illegal abduction of immigrants trying to follow the rules and appear in court.”